Tam McManus has insisted that Celtic pair Dedryck Boyata and Jozo Simunovic are not not good enough to help lift Brendan Rodgers’ side to the next level.
The two defenders are mainstays in the starting XI and played on Sunday afternoon in the historic defeat away to Hearts.
The Bhoys saw their sensational 69-game unbeaten run in domestic matches finally come to an end as they were thumped 4-0 at Tynecastle.
Rodgers suffered his first defeat in the Scottish Premiership since his arrival in 2016 as a number of defensive mistakes cost hiS team.
BBC pundit McManus believes that the manager will have aspirations of improving his Celtic team domestically and in European competitions in the future.
McManus insists that current centre-backs Boyata and Simunovic are not capable of helping the Scottish giants kick on to the next level.
“Boyata/Simunovic are decent centre half’s ok not having the best of times and were very poor today. Rodgers talks continually about progressing and improving Celtic domestically and in Europe. I don’t think these two are good enough to take them where he wants to go,” McManus wrote on his personal Twitter account.
https://twitter.com/The_Tman10/status/942433723185852417
OPINION
Celtic’s next step will be to make a big impact on the European stage, which is the one area that is currently still looming over Rodgers. They have been drawn against Russian side Zenit in the round of 32 in the Europa League and will need to be on top of their game if they are to progress. McManus has identified two defenders that are not perhaps good enough to oversee that improvement and in truth Rodgers should look to bring in a top quality centre-back in January if he is backed by the board. Rodgers has shown he can bring dominance at domestic level to Celtic despite their setback at the weekend, but it will take a better level calibre of player to improve.